MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: COREY GULKIN - ALL THE THINGS I'LL FORGET

Formerly going by Corinna Rose, Gulkin reverts to her actual name for her second album because of, she says, the highly personal nature of the material. It's a collection of eight songs that deal with an abusive relationship and her own growth after. While the subject matter is intense, the presentation is more other-worldly, or at least semi-conscious, both aurally and at many points in the story. She observes the partner asleep at the start, and sleep figures in a few of the tracks. She's pushed the abuse down so it's denied, part of a different reality, not the one on display. "Silent stoics, they tuned it out, and pushed it down, down," we're told in "Under The Covers", then "I know I would kill if I could just wake up."

The dreamscape music is a remarkable, gentle folk blend featuring a trio of harp, electric guitar and banjo, then layered with synth effects. Again, like the lyrics, it often builds to a quiet intensity, never jarring but a little unnerving if you're listening close. Gulkin uses close, soft vocals, sometimes without a clear melody, a bit like Julie Doiron's quiet material. Matched against the unique tones of banjo meeting harp, the effect is powerful in its beauty. When she sings "I forgave but I can't forget", after meeting in "The Room", it's a stunning conclusion.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: TINSLEY ELLIS - WINNING HAND

Ellis is the kind of bluesman who lists the guitars he plays on each cut just below the song title, which many be all you need to know about him. For those who drool over the words "1959 Fender Stratocaster", he's your boy. Of course, you knew that after 19 albums, and this one delivers yet again with his trademark stinging guitar and solid songwriting.

All but one of the cuts are Ellis' own, and fall into three categories: raging and raw, mid-tempo and fun, and slow and scorching. It's the latter that showcases his playing the best, especially on "Don't Turn Off The Light", where his lead playing (on a 2000 Les Paul Standard) is intense throughout, without the flashy fast work others need to impress. I do like his fun stuff too though, and the cover, Leon Russell's "Dixie Lullaby", shows him able to lighten up and still throw out a few killer licks. He might be best known for fireworks, but he's truly got all the bases covered.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: FLEETWOOD MAC (DELUXE EDITION)

Since the rest of the big hit Fleetwood Mac albums of the '70's and '80's have received the Deluxe treatment, the eponymous 1975 album was due that treatment as well, it just came out of order. This was the one that started the mega-platinum insanity after all, and in several ways it's the most interesting to see expanded and dissected, to figure out what bit of magic happened to this once-journeyman band.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and certainly Mick Fleetwood threw a Hail Mary pass when he recruited Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1975. Up until December of '74, they were still a four-piece band with smoothie Bob Welch in the lead guitar/vocals/chief writer spot, but when he quit, the group was on the ropes. It couldn't have come at a worse time, since they'd actually finally dug themselves out of a long stagnant period, and the most recent album, Heroes Are Hard To Find, had actually broken into the U.S. Top 40 albums chart, the group's first in the States. Luckily Fleetwood heard a tape of the Buckingham/Nicks album in a studio, and sought out the Californians.

Merging these two relative rookies into the established band proved miraculously smooth, as they brought all the missing pieces: harmonies, songwriting, guitar fire, personality. The three Brits immediately upped their game as well, adapting to the new material with suitable fireworks, while Christine McVie was inspired to come up with great songs herself, including "Say You Love Me" and "Over My Head". There was existing Buckingham/Nicks material to get started on, including "Crystal", which was updated from the Buckingham/Nicks album, Nicks brought the exciting "Rhiannon", and Buckingham had "Monday Morning". McVie and Buckingham even started writing together, working up "World Turning", which featured their co-vocals on the album.

One other crucial element doesn't get enough mention. The studio where Fleetwood first heard that Buckingham/Nicks album was the soon-to-be-famous Sound City, and engineer Keith Olsen was the guy who played it for him. That's where they made the Fleetwood Mac album, with Olsen engineering and co-producing, and the brilliant mix and sonics of the record, especially the vocals and the drums, set the standard for clean sound.

This big box includes the original album on 180 gram vinyl, sounding even better than ever remastered. There are three CD's, the first featuring the regular album plus the four single mixes from the album, and there are some significant differences there, fun to spot. The second is made up of early versions of each song from the album, in mid-production, plus a short live set from the Warner Bros. Sound Stage. Disc three is all live, from the first year of touring for the new group. There's also a DVD with the surround sound and hi-res stereo versions for you folks blessed with huge honking expensive systems.

Discs two and three are quite fascinating, hearing the band feeling out the arrangements, learning out how to bring out the best in each other. There are some noticeable differences in some of the early versions, especially in "Rhiannon", as Nicks struggles to come up with a difference verse for the second chorus. Even in the early live version, she's trying out new words, all abandoned for the final studio take. "Monday Morning" is a much heavier number early on, McVie and Fleetwood pounding it out in a power trio with Buckingham, a harder edge they would rarely employ after that.

The live material has some real eye-openers, as the group went out to fans still thinking they were a blues band, with some decent-sized hits in the repertoire. For those first shows, Buckingham and Nicks had to learn several old Mac songs, including favourites "Oh Well" and "The Green Manalishi". Buckingham especially proved he could handle not just the vocals, but also the guitar heroics, something that had always been central to the Mac show. McVie was still doing some of her material, such as the lovely "Why", which now boasted grand harmonies from Buckingham and Nicks. That duo brought a few of their old ones to the table as well, to fill up the show, and then there was the dynamic new stuff that had just hit the stores.

Eventually, the album became a hit, thanks to great word-of-mouth and solid singles that kept coming to radio. It kept building and building, hitting #1 on the album charts more than a year after it's release. While Rumours racked up even greater sales and became the album most talk about now, this one had pretty much the same magic, and none of the messiness that came later.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JOHNNY COULL - THAT COLD YEAR

Montreal's Coull packs his second full-length album with great big piano rock, each song brimming over with power and words. These are full-on epics, lots of words and even more music. Opener "A Taste Of Euphoria" goes past Springsteen, and verges on Meatloaf, but classier. He likes them long too, with several tracks in the five to eight minute range, which he has no trouble filling up.

There aren't any tricks here, no production wizardry, it's plain instruments, voices and basic recording, sounding ever so '70's. Coull's not channeling any one performer, he's channeling lots of them, all good ones, a bit of Elton here, some Stones there. The piano leads, but it's surrounded by gospel singers, trumpets, strings, big guitar solos, and that's just on "The Troubadour Returns", an epic at 7'56". "I'm Fine ('Cause The Girl Is Mine)" is a big ol' Bo Diddley beat mixed with a pop tune, something fun. "I Left My Baby Grand In New Orleans" is the song Billy Joel always wished he was good enough to write.

And the words, so many, these are stories that unfold over several verses, complex, rich, and marvelous to hear. He gives us full descriptions of his characters and all the places he visits, from calloused hands placed inside hair, to the stink of the swamp and empty beers in New Orleans. It's going to take me a few more listens to figure them all out, but it's all part of the journey he's on, and goodness me, it's an adventure for sure.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: BIG STAR - LIVE AT LAFAYETTE'S MUSIC ROOM

It's not the best recording by a long shot, and it's not even the best performance even, with the three-man lineup barely able to keep up with the demands of the glorious material. It is an important document of this hugely influential band however, showing even more sides to the vision and richness of the group that set the template for alternative rock. And like the group's entire career, the flaws are part of the richness. It's amazing what the three of them could do in a live setting, and how close it really was to perfection.

It was a 1973 gig the band had to do, thanks to a contract, but they were barely functioning at the time. Their debut, #1 Record, had flopped, and Chris Bell, the founder of the band, had quit. Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel showed up well-rehearsed though, pros at least, to open for Archie Bell and the Drells, with the crowd caring less about their music. But that didn't stop them from giving all they could.

Without Bell, Chilton somehow manages to fill all the guitar roles, with some fine lead lines and chopping Beatles Rubber Soul chords. They somehow manage to approximate the complex studio work on songs such as "In The Street" and "When My Baby's Beside Me", including many of the tight harmonies. And even new material such as "Back of a Car" gets introduced, months before being recorded, and a year before it's release. There's a lovely four-song mini-set in the middle of acoustic material, include the tender "Thirteen" that is as strong as the record, but the mics also pick up the indifferent crowd chatting away during the songs at one point. At the end of another, there's virtually no applause.

To fill out the hour, the group does some fun covers, including The Flying Burrito Brothers' "Hot Burrito #2", the T. Rex cut "Baby Strange", and Todd Rundgren's "Slut". The whole show has been released before, but it was on the 2009 box set Keep An Eye On The Sky, so this is stand-alone release lets you grab it if you don't have that. For completists, it comes with something new, a download code of an interview with Chilton and Hummel from 1972.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JIM CUDDY - CONSTELLATION

We all know Jim Cuddy's role in Blue Rodeo, as the sweeter, saner side to Greg Keelor's flights of fancy and '60's-based experimentation. It's one of the most perfect yin-yang combos in the biz. But while the Force is strong in Cuddy, he doesn't really have a dark side to draw on for his solo outings. There's only one to thing to do then, and that's go for it. Constellation sees him play all his cards, from the feel-good opener "While I Was Waiting" to the country-flavoured "Where You Gonna Run" to the heart-tugging piano and cello number "Constellations", and that's just the first three songs.

Whereas Blue Rodeo might shy away from the pop delights of "Beauty and Rage", the Cuddy group revels in the electric piano and big backing vocals. That's not to say you wouldn't find any of these songs on a Blue Rodeo album, but you certainly wouldn't find all of them, it's just too upbeat a set. Even the ballads don't have the big drama , it's simply more easy-going. The band, featuring Rodeo mates Bazil Donovan on bass and guitarist Colin Cripps, violinist Anne Lindsay, drummer Joel Anderson and keyboard player Steve O'Connor, keep a smooth groove throughout, and there's no great amount of soloing, just the occasional parts where the organ pops up or the mandolin cuts through. The emphasis stays on Cuddy's voice, the aural equivalent of a hug and a smile.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: TERRY GOMES - THE TROPICAL DREAM

If Terry Gomes' new album feels like a trip, it's because it was created as a virtual one. While the guitar player was recovering from serious back injury, he imagined a tropical getaway, something to make him feel better, and that lead to this series of compositions. Gomes has played pretty much everything in his career, from rock to classical, but has settled of late in jazz/world music, especially music that touches on his Guyanese heritage. While you can hear lots of South and Central American and Caribbean influences, it's all a fusion of many forms.

This is an all-instrumental set, with Gomes' clean guitar leading the way, and each track featuring very specific instruments for each mood and style. Steel drums and trumpet start us out on "Happy Landings," setting up the trip down south. If that's a surprising combo, next comes tenor sax and Paraguayan harp. Various percussion parts feature throughout, Latin rhythms offering easy grooves. It's very gentle for the most part and also very soothing, something to take you somewhere warm in the winter, or somewhere healing, just as it was intended.